The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for providing wetted wipers. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a hydrogen peroxide point-of-use wetted wiper system.
Many attempts have been made to provide effective ways to clean areas. One of the most easy and prevalent ways to achieve clean areas is by wiping the surfaces of an area with a cleaning solution and a wipe. The term “cleaning agent” is intended to include disinfectants, sanitizers, antimicrobials, virucides, fungicides, and the like and is intended to encompass the active ingredients and not additives such as detergents, surfactants, stabilizing agents and the like.
Cleanliness of certain preparation areas or rooms is becoming a bigger issue for a diverse group of organizations such as pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, industrial research facilities, patient care facilities, animal research facilities, and electronics laboratories. Clean facilities also help to ensure the integrity of research, development, and manufacture by keeping potential contaminants at bay.
Cleanliness is an issue particularly in the wet environments of microelectronics laboratories. Bacteria, including Pseudomonas putida, can grow and flourish in such environments, leaving tools and work surfaces contaminated and unclean. Microbial infestations such as these can be eliminated using a hydrogen peroxide solution.
Methods of cleaning tools and surface areas include applying hydrogen peroxide to the surface, typically through a spray bottle, then scrubbing the surface with the wipe. Another method is applying the hydrogen peroxide to the wipe and then scrubbing the surface with the wipe. While a solution of six percent (6%) hydrogen peroxide is found to be acceptable in killing bacterial growths, the use of free liquid hydrogen peroxide poses both health and safety issues.
Hydrogen peroxide, as well as other liquid cleaning solutions can be difficult to work with. Most liquid cleaning solutions, especially hydrogen peroxide, lose their cleaning potency over time because the cleaning agents are constantly decomposing. For example, hydrogen peroxide decomposes to water and oxygen over time, such that once prepared, the shelf life is extremely short. Furthermore, typically hydrogen peroxide is in a concentrated form of approximately thirty-one percent (31%) and needs to be diluted to a usable concentration such as six percent (6%) just before use. Improper measuring/proportions of the hydrogen peroxide and the solvent, typically water, however, can cause excessive dilution of the hydrogen peroxide, decreasing the effectiveness of the resulting solution.
Further, when liquid cleaning solutions are used, there is often too little solution used, leaving an unsanitized environment; and, in other cases, there is too much solution used, resulting in solution wastage. Moreover, the dilutions of some cleaning solutions may be too weak to be effective, liquid cleaning solution may be spilled, and juggling two or more containers for measuring and diluting the cleaning solution can all be time-consuming, inconvenient, unsafe, and inefficient.
To alleviate some of these problems, wipes that are pre-wetted with an appropriate amount of cleaning solution and then packaged, have been used. A problem with these wipes, however, is that, in addition to the cleaning solution losing its strength or potency over time if not used soon after packaging, the solution reacts with most common fabrics used for the wipes. The reaction causes degradation of the wiping material and of the cleaning agents within a short period of time.
As provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,062,381 and 6,001,187, Paley and others addressed the wipe degradation issue. These patents disclose a small container storing an appropriate amount of cleaning solution positioned within a larger container enclosing wipes. When the wipes are needed for cleaning purposes, the smaller container is broken, releasing the liquid onto the wipes. Because the cleaning solution and the wipes are isolated, there is reduced, if any, wipe degradation. But the problem still remains where the liquid cleaning solution loses its potency over time.
In addition, particularly with hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide continually deteriorates and produces oxygen gas such that if one attempted to package wipes pre-wetted with hydrogen peroxide solution, the gas would build up within the packaging and rupture the packaging over time. The shelf-life of such a product would be extremely short.
As a result, there still exists a need for a hydrogen peroxide point of use wetted wiper system with a long shelf life and little wiper decomposition. In addition, there is a need for an easy to use wiper system where no measuring of hydrogen peroxide is necessary and where the strength/potency of the cleaning solution is retained.